Specifications, Availability and Pricing

Structurally, the Kone XTD is built in two halves. The larger top section is ergonomically shaped for right handed people as it curves over the top to comfort your palm; it also drops off to the right to allow for a better wrist position. The left side is largely indented to give a lot of area to nestle in your thumb. There you will also find two buttons that are set by default as the page forward and the EasyShift[+] buttons. The top section has a lot going on. There is a strip that is LED backlit that runs almost the entire length from back to front that offers 16.8 million color choices and four individual control points. Between those shiny strips of plastic, you find the right click, left click, Titan Wheel, DPI on-the-fly buttons, and another button in front of the wheel, set as a Windows key by default. The right side of the mouse offers a nice, but much flatter shape to allow your fingers to snug up next to it. As for the lower section, it offers three PTFE feet and has a twist off cap covering the location for the additional weights provided if you wish to add them.

Technically speaking, you get an Avago ADNS sensor that allows for DPI control from 200 to 8200 DPI with 41 steps from one end to the other. This sensor can track up to 150 inches per second at 30g's of acceleration, and offers one to five millimeter lift of distance settings. You also get the STM32 F1, 32-bit capable, ARM Cortex MCP to read and send all of the inputs from the mouse and its buttons to the PC. As for the internal switches, there are a couple of metal pad switches used at the top, a TTC switch used to sense the Titan wheel and more plastic pad switches for the click and tilt functionality. The left side buttons are buttons are backed with Kaith switches and it is the first I recall seeing these ever, and then the main two buttons use Omron switches for durability where it is needed most. What I like most is that all of this gets packed in to a mouse that when it is all said and done, only weighs in at 90 grams, without the additional weights.

There is a slight down side to all of that technology and the sheer amount of features being offered in this newer version of the Kone. The pricing of the Kone[+] was closer to the $80 mark, and looking around, I see the price has since increased with this version. As I looked, I found both Amazon and Newegg asking $89.99 to get the Kone XTD to your door, and both are offering free shipping as well. I know a lot of gamers are happy spending thirty to forty dollars for what they sling around on the desk, but it is rare that you get more options than a couple of buttons, and maybe, just maybe the mouse is illuminated.

What you get here for your money is a mouse with top tier components, along with software that gives you ten times the functionality of the average mouse, even those with comprehensive software offerings. Till this day, I am yet see anything that offers close to what ROCCAT brings to the table, so that in itself has to justify most of this pricing.